Police in Alaska town shoot remaining dogs and cats at shelter

Houston, Alaska, police shot and killed all eight remaining cats and dogs lodged at the city's Animal Protection and Safety shelter on Tuesday after homes could not be found for the animals.

Some of the four dogs and four cats had been unclaimed at the facility since November, and the city wasn't prepared to keep them forever, said department head Sgt. Charlie Seidl, who shot them.

"We stretched out as long as we could," Seidl said. "At one point in time, we were completely full. So we were able to adopt out the animals that we could adopt out, but with these ones that were left we weren't able to do that. And like I said, we can't hang on to them indefinitely."

Some of the animals in the shelter Tuesday received an 11th-hour stay. Evelyn Rohr, a volunteer at the shelter, said she managed to get six or seven cats out before the culling and planned to deliver them to rescue facilities in Anchorage.

Cindy Liggett, of Kitty and K-9 Connection animal rescue in Anchorage, was preparing to accept some today. But others were not so lucky. Liggett said she was in the process Tuesday of trying to find a home for a black Labrador retriever in the shelter. But by the time she found someone interested, it was too late.